After it sputtered and stalled during the first quarter, the Big Blue Machine got back on course and rolled to its 13th straight victory.

Gill St. Bernard’s, No. 3 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, trailed Rutgers Prep by three points after eight minutes, then rode the strength of Dom Hoffman’s ferocious play at both ends to secure a 77-58 victory last night in Gladstone. Hoffman scored 25 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, 11 off the offensive glass, dished out six assists, and had four steals and four blocks.

This was a rematch of last year’s Somerset County Tournament final claimed by Gill St. Bernard’s, 68-59, and a possible preview for this year’s final. Gill St. Bernard’s received the top seed and Rutgers Prep took the second in this season’s version.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and hopefully have a chance to play them again,” Rutgers Prep coach Tim Ortelli said. “What other options are there? We showed we could play with them in spurts, but basketball is a 32-minute game.”

Last night represented the 26th straight victory by Gill St. Bernard’s against a team from Somerset County. Its last loss in the county was to Ridge, 63-52, in the finals of the 2010 county tournament. It also marked the 14th occasion this season coach Mergin Sina’s club has scored 70 points or more.

Playing its third game in four days, it looked early on that Gill St. Bernard’s didn’t have the legs to keep up with Rutgers Prep. Ortelli’s squad led 13-10 after the first with Brandon Patton and Matt Rennie contributing four points apiece.

Gill’ signature shot, the 3-pointer, wasn’t falling, but Hoffman kept is close by scoring eight of his team's first-quarter points.

“Coach (Sina) has been talking about getting that high seed in the (state) tournament,” said Hoffman. “We didn’t want to just give up one. It’s been a busy week. We haven’t had much time for practice or rest. We were a little flat, but we picked it up in the second half.”

Hoffman snapped a 16-16 deadlock with a put-back and then Jaren Sina nailed one of his four 3-pointers to move the lead to 21-16 with 4:07 left in the second. Rutgers Prep went on a nice 6-0 run, four points coming from freshman transfer Karl Charles, to close to within one at 25-24. However, Anthony Mea and Jon Schreer delivered back-to-back 3s to close the quarter and give the Knights a 31-24 lead.

Gill deposited four of its 12 3-pointers in the third to extend its lead to 56-43. Sina finished with 17 points and Mitola added 16. Joe Kacmarsky topped Rutgers Prep with 11 points and Mike Klinger, Greg Grippo and Charles each scored 10 points.

“We have to be a little more aggressive on offense,” said Ortelli. “Right now we don’t have an answer for Hoffman. You can’t be giving up second and third shots against a team like that and think you’re going to come up on the top end of the score.

“He (Hoffman) is a great high school player. He eats the glass. Every shot that’s taken, Hoffman thinks it’s a pass to him. That’s a great rebounder’s mentality. If I wasn’t coaching against him, it would have been a pleasure to watch.”